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Part 1: Opening Ceremony of the 8th World Peace Summit Respected Swāmījī, we welcome you to the 8th World Peace Summit, organized by the Śrī Mādhavānanda World Peace Council and the Hungarian Association Yoga and Daily Life. I would like to invite our honorable guests to light the candles: Mr. Ranjit Rai, Ramu Damodaran, and Arun Gandhi; Ven Himal Barwa, Surya Bose, Gabor Fulton, and Paramahaṃswāmī Makṣunānanda. Please come. I request you to stand, please. Aye, Bābā. Will you also speak a little in English for the internet? Thank you very much. The summit was invited by our guests, the meeting is held here, and we are bringing our guests to the world. The motto of the summit is "Inner Peace, the Solution to World Conflicts." Our presenters will talk about this topic. First of all, we will light the candles, then we will light the fire. Hari Om, Om, peace, peace, peace to all beings. Om Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. I would like to welcome all guests who have appeared, our guests, and everybody from the audience from various countries throughout the world—from Europe, from America, from Australia, and from Africa—who honor us by being together at this international summit in order to realize peace. I would like to extend special gratitude to Swāmījī for choosing Hungary as the location of this summit here in this place, which has been a place of worship for 20 years now. This place has always been an everyday life seminar for twenty years. So, thank you very much once again for appearing. Thank you very much for your cooperation and partnership. So, please, Arion. Pranām Swamijī, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I feel very happy and honored to welcome you on behalf of the Śrī Svāmī Māta Vānandā World Peace Council to this peace summit in Hungary. The World Peace Council and the annual World Peace Summits were established by Swāmījī in commemoration of our beloved Satguru Dev, Hindu Dharm Samrāṭ, Paramahaṁswāmī Madhavānandajī, with this thought and intention to spread and bring to realization the messages of Mahātma Gandhījī, "Be the change you want to see," and Śrī Svāmī Māta Vānandājī, "One in all and all in one." In other words, to make people all around the world aware of the profound reality of our unity in diversity, and to inspire us to put it into practice in our daily lives in order to achieve harmony and peace. We all are longing for peace and harmony. We want to be happy, to live a healthy, free, and comfortable life without fear and suffering. But how is the world looking? How is the reality that we see and experience around us? Quite the opposite. Swamiji used to say, wars, crises, catastrophes, pollution in the world are nothing else but a mirror of our own inner state—a product of our polluted mind, our greediness, carelessness, and inner violence. So at first, we need to purify, to balance, harmonize, and reconcile our inner self, our intellect, thoughts, and feelings. This will reflect to the outer world, and our wish and longing for peace can be fulfilled eventually. Or, as Mahatma Gandhi said, there is no way to peace. Peace is the way. And therefore, this peace summit has been put under the motto, "Inner peace, the answer to the world’s conflicts." I’m looking forward to inspiring words and talks that will show us a way and provide practical tools to reach this new quality of life. Welcome again, and thank you for coming from near and far. And I wish you two interesting days that will inspire and enrich our hearts and minds. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now I would like to ask Mr. Ranjit Ray, the great ambassador of India-Hungary, to give a speech. Respected Swamiji and dear friends, colleagues from the diplomatic corps, it is really a privilege for me to participate in the 8th World Summit organized by Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda, the World Peace Council. I’ve been here in Hungary for three and a half, four years, so I know personally the kind of work that this organization has been doing to bring harmony, peace, and balance into our lives. Some of the people present here I know personally as well, and they have shared with me their own experiences. So thank you, Swamiji, for this wonderful work and bringing some stability, balance, and peace to the people not only of Hungary, but all over the world. I’m particularly happy that this conference is taking place in Hungary. This is a land that has been open to diverse cultures, traditions, and religions. It has been at the crossroads of the East and the West, the North and the South. And Hungary has welcomed influences from outside while remaining secure in its own linguistic and cultural identity. And this reminds me of some very famous words of Gandhījī, when he said that he wanted his house to have open windows so that the winds could blow from all sides. And indeed, openness, tolerance, and respect for diversity—these have been the hallmarks of our civilization, and it is these shared values that bring our countries very close to each other. And Hungary, of course, has a very old tradition of scholarship, of delving into Indian traditions. And this is a tradition that stretches some 200 years. Great scholars from Hungary have traveled to India and have brought Indian religions, the Indian message of peace and tolerance, have written and translated a lot of our scriptures, ancient books in Sanskrit, and brought them to the people of Hungary. Another very special reason, I think, is the fact that this conference is taking place, which started yesterday, which was the birth anniversary of Mahātmā Gandhi. And we are very happy indeed, all the people of India are very, very happy that the international community has declared the 2nd of October, Gandhijī’s birthday, as the International Day for Nonviolence. And this is really a recognition of the timeless relevance of Gandhījī’s concept of non-violence, of ahiṃsā, and the importance of translating this into all our thoughts and actions. For Gandhījī, non-violence was not a mere political weapon or strategy. It was a deep-rooted conviction, the practice of which required great courage in the face of adversity and fearlessness before brute force. He once said, and I quote, "It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man," unquote. For Gandhījī, violence only begets violence, just as hatred sows more hatred. And the means to achieve a goal are as important as the goal itself. If the means are sullied, the end, however noble, would also be sullied. Violence was objectionable, as he said, and I quote, because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, but the evil it does is permanent. There are no victors or vanquished in any conflict. Once again, I quote Gandhiji as he said, "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." And I think the history of the last hundred years is littered with examples that demonstrate unambiguously that violence is no solution to global problems. Our contemporary society, of course, has made great advances over the last decades and has lifted millions and millions of people out of poverty. But at the same time, there is growing tension, there is violence, extremism, which in its radical form becomes terrorism. Scholars are debating the so-called clash of civilizations, cultures, and religion-based conflicts. We in India have never accepted any clash of civilizations and cultures. And Gandhījī himself deeply believed that the essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches may differ. Our tradition says, Ekam Sat Viprā Bahudā Vadanti. There is one truth. The knowledgeable ones describe it in various ways. And we also believe that many of the tensions and conflicts can be resolved through peaceful and non-violent means, provided there is tolerance and a willingness to see the other point of view. In fact, intolerance itself, Gandhiji said, was a form of violence, and non-violence, on the other hand, required an intensive engagement with the adversary and a common striving for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. I think this concept of non-violence has to be extended also to Mother Earth. I think all of us, the world, is very worried about the prospect of climate change and global warming. And violence against the Earth and the relentless exploitation of nature’s bounties are resulting in rapid environmental degradation and ecological imbalances. We are witness to the frequent devastation of tsunamis, cyclones, and hurricanes. And perhaps we should all heed what Gandhijī said, which is, "The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed." It is indeed a great privilege for me to participate in this conference. Yesterday was a demonstration of the multicultural nature of this conference. We had different cultural traditions that were shown to us, and as speakers before me said, we have participants from all over the world. And I think this is really the way that all our global problems and issues have to be addressed, through tolerance, mutual understanding, and discussion in a peaceful manner. From the film that we saw yesterday, one could sense, one could get a glimpse of the great contribution that Swāmījī and the Yoga and Daily Life mission are making to the world. And we could also see, in a very tangible way, the contributions that are being made for the preservation of our environment, the good work that is being done in Rajasthan to bring people out of poverty. And I think this is really work and contributions that are deeply appreciated and greatly commended. So once again, I would like to thank His Holiness Swamījī for having given me the opportunity to meet all of you and to share my thoughts with you. Thank you very much. I would like to invite on stage His Excellency, Ivan Bandić, please. I’m really happy and so excited. I’m really proud and privileged to be with you today. And I have later, I bring a message from my president. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests. It is my pleasure to really be with you today, participants, my dear friends. I give my great pleasure to welcome your holiness. Professor, may I say, only Swāmījī, the esteemed guest and participant of this conference, as peace conferences and the work of His Holiness have been the subject of my interest for a long time. It is my honor to support, especially on this particular occasion, all joint efforts in raising evidence of current pressing issues concerning peace, ethics, education, environmental protection, and sustainable development. We encourage and stimulate dialogue between individuals, nations, communities, and cultures. So far, the global economic crisis we are raising today has brought many challenges and conflicts. Simple and clear-cut solutions for situations of such proportions don’t exist, and that also applies to life in general. What you need to create a better and more balanced future is a calm and clear mind and a number of deliberate actions. Today, state leaders, public figures, and media share collective responsibility in assisting and supporting every peaceful action. As a part of this global entity, the Republic of Croatia is also affected by these events. As a statesman and individual, I understand that achieving inner peace and balance in times of crisis and challenge is crucially important. History teaches us about ups and downs, but also about the determination and persistence to maintain and protect basic human qualities shared by all of us. Thinking over his reign and life, Marcus Aurelius, the great ruler of the Roman Empire and Stoic philosopher, said, "Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man. If anything is with the powers and potentials of men, believe that it is within your own compass also." Every man is part of the whole, with his ups and downs. However, the critical mass threshold itself might evolve over time, stimulating positive changes. I wish you much success in your noble efforts to inspire every person in finding inner peace as a step towards peace in the world. President of the Republic of Croatia, Stjepan Mesić. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. I would like to invite the next speaker, Ramic Mubera from Bosnia, to continue his speech. Please welcome on stage Ramic Mubera from Bosnia. As you heard, I come from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the name of His Excellency, Mr. Željko Komšić. I am very excited. I did not know that I would have the opportunity to speak. I want to say hello to you all. I wish you all a successful work. I wish you all a lot of love, a lot of joy, and I think that, given this situation in the world, only love, understanding, and tolerance can save this world and open a better future for us. That’s all I have to say, and I wish you all another successful work. And now, please, before I ask Swāmījī to hand over the statements, I would like to thank Rāmudhā Mudhāran, the former head of the S-Objective Investigation Office, who is currently the head of the S-Objective Investigation Office. Please welcome on stage Ramudha Mudharan. Thank you. Respected Swamiji, Your Excellencies, friends, this is my fourth World Peace Summit, and I’ve always marveled at how Swamiji is able to not only pull the strands of this conference together, but also weave into it so many human elements. The opportunity this time for me to come to Hungary and to Sombathé has given me a chance to meet many friends whom I’ve made over the past four years and also to meet again a very close and old friend of mine, Ambassador Ranjit Ray, whom I had not met for some time, and I probably would not have for several years, were it not for Swamiji. And it’s also given me an opportunity to reflect upon the very strange sense of coincidence and intent that Swāmījī always seems to bring to these events. I was a little surprised to be told that all of us would be staying at an agricultural college, because even though I come from India, I think my connections with agriculture are somewhat tenuous. But then I realized and recalled what Swāmījī had said a couple of years ago about the seed being as important as the plant. You can have a seed, and you must cherish that seed and value the seed, but ultimately it is a tree with its branches of spirituality, of peace, of justice, of understanding, of tolerance, that give the seed life. And that, in a sense, animates to my mind the theme and the spirit of this conference, because when we talk about inner peace, we are talking about the seed, the seed within us. But if that seed, that seed of inner peace, is to remain dormant as purely a seed, and if we do not allow it to branch out and flower and extend to the world, then it will be something that only we can cherish, savor, enjoy, and feel reassured by. And we make no contribution to the world itself. It is something I think we should reflect upon, particularly in the context of this day being observed, or this summit being observed, in the context of the anniversary of Mahātmā Gandhi’s birth. Whether we should now transform the concept of nonviolence to a more assertive quality, where the seed of nonviolence takes form and gives yield to a tree or a branch. This is what the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Gandhi Jayanti yesterday. We must now transform the idea of nonviolence into a doctrine of ending violence. So, in other words, it’s not something purely within us and our refusal to participate, but it also becomes an instigator of something more powerful, a force for change. Change in every sense, as the ambassador mentioned. Change not only in violence and human terms, but also change in terms of what Ban Ki-moon called the human assault on our planet. I think this is a feeling which is particularly resonant in this part of Hungary, in Sombathai, which has given so much to the world in terms of bringing, to a very protected and, in a sense, what could have been a very local community, a sense of the wonders of the world. We in India still remember with affection the great son of Sombathai, Voresh Sandor, who came to our country. We know of the work of Majar Laslo, who went to Africa and spent 17 years in Angola, and we cherish the memory, all of us in the world, of your great Nobel Prize winner, who won the prize, of all things, for physics in the year 1937, when this country and this continent and this world were traumatized by the prospects of war. And at that time, when he accepted the Nobel Prize at the ceremony in Stockholm, St. Georgi Albert said that he had come from a devastated fatherland, but he had always felt that he belonged to a greater spiritual family, a family that had been ungrudging in its gifts to him of solidarity, friendship, and cooperation. And he saw the Nobel Prize as the result of this seed of fruit, and he hoped that this fruit would shed its light and its bounteous rays upon the world beyond the limits of human knowledge, to create a true human solidarity, a pan-human solidarity. And when you have someone like a Nobel laureate in a specific science, like physics, who dares to challenge the limits of human knowledge, then I think all of us here, as lesser mortals, also realize that what we know is completely finite. What we experience is only a moment unto ourselves. And if we can transcend that through the discipline of yoga, as Swāmījī has taught us, through the discipline of service, as so many of you here embody, and above all, I think, the spirit of, in a sense, self-denial, which allows us to transcend our experiences to a greater level. When we were coming to Sombath High yesterday, Ranjit’s mother, who is here with us today, told us about the time, the day that Gandhījī was assassinated in Delhi, the 30th of January, 1948. And how, on the following day, as a funeral procession left for the banks of the river Yamunā, she and so many like her spontaneously joined the crowds going towards the funeral pyre. And she said at that time there was no thought of hunger, there was no thought of thirst. It was just a sense of purpose and mission, because she and everyone else wanted to be there. If we can do that to ourselves, if we can deny ourselves that sense of hunger, of thirst, of the attributes that we consider to be intrinsically human, and go beyond that, extending the limits of human knowledge and human capacity, then we would have realized not only that inner peace within ourselves, but allowed that inner peace to become truly one of the keys to the resolution of world conflict. For having sown the idea of that seed and that promise, we are grateful to you, Swāmījī, and we just hope, all of us working at the United Nations, that the efforts that you embody will serve our cause as securely in the future as they have in the past. Thank you. Thank you so much. Köszönjük szépen. Érdekében, we would like to kindly ask Swāmījī to give his speech. And before, please welcome the Ambassador to Hungary from South Africa. Your Holiness, Swamiji, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, all protocol observed. Let me start by saying what struck me when I arrived at this conference yesterday was the peaceful spirit, the smiles, the love, and the hospitality that was flowing amongst the delegates. Thank you very much. Let me again mention that 2009 is a lucky year for me because, just in June, three months ago, I was a speaker at a United Nations Millennium Development Goal Conference at St. Istvan University here in Hungary. And the guest of honor was His Holiness Śrī Śrī Ravi Śaṅkar. The celebration of Mahātma Gāndhī’s life and the values of love, nonviolence, and peace is very close to our hearts, as he lived in our country, South Africa. Ladies and gentlemen, this World Peace Summit comes just ten days after two major world summits in the United States of America. The United Nations General Assembly Summit, addressed by heads of state and government in New York, and the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. The key messages from this summit were clear. It was a call for global cooperation to achieve international peace, security, and stability. Democracy, transparency, the rule of law, disarmament, tackling climate change, and the respect for human rights and human dignity still took center stage at this summit. As without these elements, there cannot be a better life for all. In Pittsburgh, the message was also the same. It was in recognition that without resolving the outstanding issues relating to the current global economic crisis, international peace, security, and stability may be threatened. We need to all join hands, as we are doing today across the world, to address these challenges to global peace, security, and stability. Further stagnation will actually fail future generations. It is in our hands to change the world. I come from a country which had a tumultuous past since the 17th century through colonization. When colonization ended in 1948, another inhuman system of apartheid was installed by law to justify the oppression of one race by another. Mahatma Gandhi also was a victim of this oppression in South Africa. He was arrested several times. It took men and women of courage, like Mr. Nelson Mandela, with the support of the international community, to persistently fight the system and sacrifice their lives for the freedom of all of us. Nelson Mandela and others were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the closure of his trial, called the Rivonia Trial, which had wide international coverage, Nelson Mandela made a declaration which I need to share with you, as it is still valid today. He said, I quote, "During my lifetime, I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all people live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live and to achieve, but if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." The United Nations declared apartheid a crime against humanity. However, by the time apartheid was dismantled in 1994, a lot of damage was created, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and not only to the victims of the system, but also to the perpetrators themselves. Part 2: A Gathering for Peace: Reflections and Resolutions The nation required a profound cleansing, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established, chaired by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. It served as a healing platform to address the atrocities of apartheid and the armed struggle. The primary aim was to foster reconciliation and forgiveness for a divided nation, enabling it to move forward as one people, united in a painful past and in diversity. South Africa attained its democracy just after the end of the Cold War, marked by the fall of the Iron Curtain here in Europe. Free and fair elections were held on the 27th of April, 1994. For the first time, South Africans of all races over the age of 18 voted for a political party of their choice. It was a new beginning, a new dawn, for a country embroiled in wars, conflict, and violence for centuries. The new South Africa was founded on the values of human rights, human dignity, non-sexism, and non-racialism—values which Mr. Mandela, at the age of 91, still stands for today. Today’s session, ladies and gentlemen, is not about bickering over negatives. It is about lifting up the positives. In doing so, I must state that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa creates an obligation for the state to protect and provide basic services for all nationals. Equally, all nationals have a responsibility to treat each other with respect and dignity. This provides hope for a better life. Your Holiness, we are cognizant as a country that the provision of better services alone will not bring happiness, peace, and tranquility. The government has a responsibility to build the capacity of the state to give leadership in defining a common national agenda, to identify goals and initiatives that have the potential to unite the nation rather than cause division. The education system needs to encompass the promotion of human moral values for a caring society and serve to eliminate expressions of racism, gender discrimination, xenophobia, and all other forms of discrimination. These issues should also form part of a public dialogue system with non-state actors, like the Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council. We are grateful to have been invited to this summit, and we pledge to continue participating in these peace summits in years to come, to contribute to a calm, healthy, peaceful society and world. Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, let me state that the journey walked by South Africa was a long and turbulent journey to freedom, culminating in the Rainbow Nation, symbolized by a national flag and a coat of arms with the following theme: unity in diversity. However, we recognize as a nation that we cannot call ourselves a truly free nation while part of society is still not free from fear nor free from want. We are determined to foster a human rights culture, which is a heritage to be proudly passed to future generations. With the gains we have made in the past 15 years of democracy and our resilience in having walked the long journey to freedom, we remain confident that we will achieve our target to halve poverty by 2014 and create a better life for all South Africans—a peaceful Africa and a better world. We take advantage of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, which is a cultural event that will not only bring joy and more unity in our diversity but will help us address our national security challenges, from poverty to hard security. On this note, may peace, calm, and tranquility gradually prevail across all nations. Thank you. Paramahaṁsa Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, please give your speech. And now, we would like to kindly ask Svāmījī to give his speech. Thank you, thank you. Please. Oṁ Asato Mā Sadgamaya, Tamaso Mā Jyotir Gamaya, Mṛtyor Mā Amṛtaṁ Gamaya. Oṁ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ. Sarveśāṁ Svastir Bhavatu, Sarveṣāṃ śāntir bhavatu, Sarveṣāṃ maṅgalam bhavatu, Sarveṣāṃ pūrṇam bhavatu. Lokaḥ samasthaḥ sukhino bhavantu. Tryambakaṃ yajāmahe Sugandhim Puṣṭi Vardhanam. Salutation to the cosmic light, Lord of our hearts, omniscient and omnipresent. In his divine presence, very good morning, dear brothers and sisters. Your excellencies, your holinesses, the organizers, and dear media. Indeed, it’s a blessing for me to be here in this beautiful city, Sambadhā. I was surprised how much Ramu knows about Hungary and Sambadhā. This morning I came to know Sambadhā means Saturday, and it is a place. So we are today in the right place. I’m very happy and thankful for the beautiful words spoken by His Excellency, the Ambassador of India, Ranjit Rai. Also, our dear brother, Ramu Damoda, who came from the United Nations, dear sister, and Her Excellency, the Ambassador of South Africa, Representative and Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, thank you very much for bringing the beautiful message from your respected President. Yes, he is a great personality, a great peace worker with very clear thoughts, and please give my kind regards to him. Our dear brothers, Buddhist brothers, they arrived from Bangladesh. It was not easy for them to get all the formalities and to come to a small city in Hungary to somebody. Thank you, and welcome, brothers. Yes, beautifully spoken about peace as one seed. My grandmaster used to say, it takes time for a seed to grow into a large tree. But that seed can only grow into a large tree if that seed offers itself. Also, in the Testament it is said, you have to die to live. And so it reminds me of the work of all great men of this world. Centuries and centuries gone, time to time, they were struggling for peace. This cannot be realized unless we develop thoughts in our mind and consciousness. As the Vedas said in Indian ancient literature, the Upaniṣads, Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam, the whole world is one family. If we will feel like one family, then what happened in the past and what’s going on now in this world will not happen. Love your neighbor means not only your wife or husband. There you need not to tell to love your husband or your wife, and if... He will not love his wife or husband. You can tell whatever you like, they will get divorced. But love all, every creature. In the last centuries, human beings began to make a big mistake. Always, everywhere, we are using one word: human rights. Humanitarian work, human protection, human society—the greatest help is to the humans. This is a very big discrimination towards God’s creation, other creatures. We humans should not think that God loves only us. We should not think that God has created only humans to be happy here and fight for their rights. What happened nowadays and in the past with the humans, the wars, the fighting, all is a reflection of the karmas which are the human deeds towards other creatures. Every action will have a reaction. Every reaction will have an action again. So, from the spirituality to see, ahiṁsā paramo dharma, the highest principle is non-violence. Declared in the Upaniṣads, Vedas, and the first, the word ahiṁsā was spoken by Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, uncle, Pitāmaha Bhīṣma. We know that Gandhījī’s hard work, and all the times Gandhījī was using the word "Ahiṁsā," non-violence. 2nd of October, we know that it is declared by the United Nations as a day of non-violence. And this is followed in the whole world. If you make a hiṁsā, if you make violence, then be sure one day you will be the victim of the violence. There is no boundary. There is no limitation. Either it’s a human or an animal, life is life. There is only one God, only one creator, and we are all children of one God. There are not two gods. Yes, from time to time, great saints or incarnations manifest on this globe. That’s a little different. Nimitta and Nitya of Tārā, the manifestation of the God, either for a special purpose or to guide us in everyday life. We know that peace is something which we cannot smell, which we cannot touch, and we cannot see with these physical eyes. But we know what it looks like. It’s not impossible. Everything is possible if we try. And so, I like always to say, and not only myself, the whole world is repeating always, be the change you want to see, Gandhījī said. So if we want to see peace in our countries—here you are, from many, many nations, sitting here—we have to change, we have to see brotherhoodness. My great master, His Holiness Svāmī Madhavānandajī, I came to him when I was about 10 years. I spent my life with him until 2003. He was a great personality and a great worker, a messenger to bring love, understanding, and tolerance. Social health means all the times he was working and talking to people to give up all the bad habits. Holi Gurujī used to say, it’s very easy to become free from the enemy, but not from the bad habits. The bad habits which you learned from your childhood will torture you lifelong. I didn’t see Gandhījī as a great pity, but, you know, through the hard work of Mahātmā Gandhījī, he stopped alcohol throughout the whole of India. No consuming alcohol. Unfortunately, now, the present government, I’m sorry, Your Excellency, to say, they have made free every corner of the street, or more, in one street, the alcohol shops. And especially for the drivers, it is a subsidy or a concession. A driver can buy alcohol cheaper. Yes, there’s a law: at least 50 meters far should be from the road, the alcohol shop. For a drunkard, for an alcoholic, 50 meters is not very far. He goes and drinks, and walks back to his vehicle. It takes, when he walks the 50 meters, it takes him perhaps 10 minutes or 15 minutes, and he’s capable of driving only 50 meters more before he has an accident. Gandhījī, what he saw as the way for the Indians, unfortunately, is not 100% followed. If we will do today, India will be different. I hope that the Indian government will hear my words and try to do something. That we should follow the instructions of the great saints. Every government from every country, their prime duty should be looking after the spiritual health, the spirituality of their people, and the protection of the culture. Every country and every person is nowadays making sorrows about the economy. But no one thinks about spirituality. If we think about spirituality, inner peace will come, and you will not be unhappy or have troubles with your money or anything. Peace is within us, that seed which has to grow within ourselves to realize. It is said, you may be so rich that you have thousands of elephants and big forests, or you are the king of the whole earth. You may have golden and diamond mines, but as long as you have no contentment in your heart, you are poor. And when you get this peace in your heart, all this wealth for you is just like dust. Peace is that, that whatever we have, we should be happy with that and not take away from anyone. Every country is developing weapons, atoms, and so on. That is against Ahiṁsā, against the teaching of the Vedas and Upaniṣads, against the Bible, and against the Holy Quran and all the great saints. That time we were in peace and happiness. Spirituality is the soul of this peace. And they spoke about Gandhījī, that there is no peace. The way to peace, that way is peace. But in that piece should be spiritually to the spiritual soul. Well, the time doesn’t allow me to say anything more. My dear friend, Christian president used to say, "Svāmījī, with the terrorist you can negotiate, but not with the protocol." So time is here. We will speak more. The teaching of my master was full of tolerance towards religions, tolerance towards the nations, love and understanding for everyone. Well, all the members and the board committee of Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council, and Monsignor Kapo David from South Australia, Adelaide, who is also president of this organization, Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council, two years ago, he asked me that we should work harder for this and give some kind of symbols that people will remember. So we designed one small award. It’s not a Nobel, not a Nobel Peace Award, but peace is peace. There’s only one word more, Nobel. So in Hindi, "nobel" means without strength. Nobel, in Hindi translation, Nobel means there is no strength. But we must have a strength inside when we speak about peace, about reality. Everyone supports the strongest one. No one supports the meek one. Like the wind supports the fire to become a stronger fire, but the same wind will blow out the flame. So the strength, our strength, is in spirituality and the name of God. It doesn’t matter which God we believe in, or how we believe, but we believe in God. And this, your final, last, and highest truth, is God. So we also begin to do something. All these people tell me, "Svāmījī, do something." I said, "I do a lot of things." They said no, but do something more, so I said, "Well, I will request our Svāmī Chidānand from Navasād to come here." Is Sridharan here? Because he’s taking too many photos. Click, click, click. Now, his name is Click Svāmī. He will announce something, and then I will request the persons to come here. I need all, please. So, in your hands, in the name of Gandhījī and Gurujī, please. And you shall read it. You can observe on the screen to read: Śrī Svāmī Mādhavānanda World Peace Council. And the Śrī Svāmī Mādhavānanda Peace Award goes to the President of the Republic of Croatia, as a messenger of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace. We request His Excellency, the Ambassador of Croatia, please, to receive the award for your president. And here you have the gesture. Professor Dineshki Dayal Puri, please, will you read: "The Śrī Svāmī Madhavānanda World Peace Council hereby confers this peace award on Mr." Ramadhamadharan United Nations President of the President of the Recreation Council, is the text coming? Do you see on the screen? Thank you, so I need not to. And the third one is for the Honourable Premier of South Australia, Mike Raine. This goes to him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come this time, and also Father David couldn’t come. But we have one representative of Australia, Geeta from Sydney, who is living in London. She’s here in this conference. Can you come here, please, girl? Gītā or Sītā, what is your name? Come, but quickly. Thank you. Thank you very much for your attention, and I will not take very much time. In the last 20 years, I’ve been attending and organizing many, many world peace events for the protection of the environment, the protection of wildlife, the protection of all creatures, and, of course, for humans too. For the sake of world peace, I begin to plant peace trees. And the trees should stand there for world peace. And after this program, I would request you all to follow us to plant the peace trees. And there will be, on this spot, a press conference. After that, you will have dinner. Thank you very much for listening. And now is, I think, an interval, no? What is now? I’m very, very pleased to be here with you today, especially with my friends from Miji and all best excellencies, dignitaries, gentlemen and ladies, brothers and sisters. Please, I’m happy to be with you here, and I will try to be short, not to take too much time. The one point today has made a change in what I wanted to say. The point of the change was it took me back to the original presentation, which is also in the book. And I was thinking, how is it possible that nobody understands individual social responsibility? And it got me to my brain that when we are talking social responsibility, we are not understanding that 200,000 years ago, when the small communities and the tribes of Homo sapiens were around the world, scattering around the places where there was a bit more food and water and shelter, they were very much socially responsible individuals as a person, as a man, as a lady, as a child. It was a part of the heritage which was given to mankind by nature. Me, as a natural science man, I have to tell you, it was a part of the genetical structure of mankind. We wouldn’t see today, on this pleasant morning, having a nice time and listening to really, really very advisable, very intelligent, and very good questions and answers, if our ancestors didn’t have a social responsibility on an individual level. And about a year ago, I was researching this particular point because of corporate social responsibility, which is just a marketing operation of the money monster, the monster and the governor of the world, of the human being world, where everybody becomes an industry of money. Today, money reproduction is not grounded by production of whatsoever, physical or products, but the money reproduction is reproduction for itself. That’s how the money monster becomes the governor of mankind’s society today. And that’s why I was researching individual social responsibility, and that’s why I would like to tell you, please understand, if we don’t evolve a new approach to society, including individual social responsibility, I am very doubtful about the sustainable future of mankind. Thank you very much. He was born in South Africa in 1930, and following his grandfather’s footsteps, he himself was a social-political activist. Between 1946 and 1948, Arun spent his time with his grandfather, and he practiced the force of Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings. Similarly to his grandfather, he is committed to our society, which is non-violent, and has spent all of his time in India, where, in general, he worked to change the situation of the oppressed classes. He saved 123 orphan children from the street and provided a home for them throughout the world. He opened up the change of social changes and also the Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence. In 2008, Arun launched the Gandhi for Education Institute of the Global Institute, which has the purpose of constructing elementary schools for children who are very poor. So please welcome him. Respected Svāmījī, Excellencies, Holinesses, and dear friends, It’s a great pleasure for me to be here today to share with you some of the things that I learned from my grandfather and from my parents. When I was invited here to speak to all of you, Svāmījī said, "You will have 20 minutes to explain Gandhi’s theories." It’s a tremendous task to condense all the things that I learned into 20 minutes, but I will do my best. I am perhaps the last generation of people who saw Grandfather, lived with him, and learned things from him. And I think in many ways, what I learned from him as a young boy of 12 made a big difference in my life. And I’m sure if you reflect on the things that I’m going to share with you this morning, you will also understand and learn a lot from what he had to say. Before I go into some of the things that I want to share with you, I do want to mention one thing which has been spoken about this morning by various people, including Svāmījī, and that is the word tolerance. And my grandfather didn’t like that word "tolerance" at all. He said, "We don’t want human beings to tolerate each other." We want human beings to respect each other. Tolerance is something that you can’t do anything about, so you’re just going to tolerate the person. And that is not the kind of relationship we want between people. The relationship should be based on respect, understanding, and love. So, with humble apologies to Svāmījī, please change that word "tolerance" to "respect." But as I said, I was 12 years old when I lived with my grandfather. One of the things that he told me about was how he came to understand and appreciate nonviolence. As you all probably know, he was married at the age of 13. He and his grandmother were both 13 years old when they got married. And he says that at that age, he didn’t know who was going to be the boss in that relationship, who was going to lay down the rules and enforce the rules there. So he started going to the library and reading books on the subject. And all these books were written by male chauvinists, because they all talked about how the husband should lay down the rules and enforce them strictly. And so he came home that evening, and in the privacy of their room, he told grandmother, "From tomorrow, you are not going to stir out of the house without my permission. I don’t want any arguments about it. That is the law, and you’re going to obey." And grandmother didn’t say anything, didn’t respond at all. She just quietly turned around and went to bed, and got up the next day, and she continued to go out and visit and do everything, and never bothered to get grandfather’s permission. After a few days, Grandfather confronted her and said, "How dare you disobey me? Didn’t I tell you that you are not supposed to go out of the house without my permission?" And at that point, Grandmother very quietly, without losing her temper, she said that I was brought up to believe that we must always obey the elders in the house, and I believe the elders in this house are your parents. Now, if you’re trying to tell me that I should not obey your mother but obey you instead, let me know so that I can go and tell your mother I’m not going to obey you anymore. And, of course, grandfather couldn’t tell her to do that, and so the whole matter was settled without anybody losing their temper or creating a big conflict. And grandfather said that that was the first major lesson in nonviolent conflict resolution that he learned. But that also taught him the power of anger and how anger contributes to all the violence that we experience in our lives today, whether it’s in individual lives or in the lives of nations. It’s most of the time, 87% of the time, according to some experts. It is caused by anger that we get angry, and we say things and do things that sometimes cause major conflict and even result in wars, killings, and all kinds of things. So anger became a very important aspect of his philosophy of nonviolence, that we all need to learn how to deal with our anger in a positive way. He taught me that anger is like electricity. It’s just as powerful and just as useful, but only if we use it intelligently. But it can be just as deadly and destructive if we abuse it. So just as we channel electrical energy and bring it into our lives and use it for the good of humanity, we must learn to channel anger in the same way so that we can use that energy for the good of humanity rather than abuse the energy and cause death and destruction. So anger really played a very significant role in learning to practice nonviolence. And nonviolence is not, as most of us think, the absence of violence or the absence of war. And because a nation is not at war with another nation, it does not mean that we are living in peace. That there is violence of various kinds that we practice individually and collectively. And we have to understand and realize that. That was the lesson that he taught me when one day I was coming back from school, and I had my notebook and a pencil in my hands. And I just happened to look at the pencil. It was about three inches long. And I thought to myself, I deserve a better pencil. Part 3: The Pencil and the Genealogical Tree of Violence This pencil was too small for me to use. Without a second thought, I just threw it away because I was so sure that when I asked my grandfather for a new one, he would give it to me. But that evening, when I met him and asked, instead of giving me a pencil, he subjected me to many questions. He wanted to know how the pencil became small, where I threw it away, and why I threw it away, and so on. I couldn’t understand why he was making such a fuss over a little pencil until he told me to go out and look for it. I said, "You must be joking. You don’t expect me to look for a little pencil in the dark?" He said, "Oh, yes, I do. Here’s a flashlight. Take this and go out and look for the pencil." I must have spent about two hours searching for it. When I finally found it and brought it to him, he said, "Now I want you to sit here and learn two very important lessons." "The first lesson is that even in the making of a simple thing like a pencil, we use a lot of the world’s natural resources. When we throw them away, we are throwing away the world’s natural resources, and that is violence against nature. The second lesson is that because in an affluent society we can afford to buy all these things in bulk, we overconsume the resources of the world. And because we overconsume them, we are depriving people elsewhere of these resources, and they have to live in poverty. And that is violence against humanity." That was the first time I realized that all these little things we do every day—the things we throw away, waste, and overconsume—not just a pencil, but imagine all the things... Every time we indulge in any of those things, we are participating in promoting violence. To make me understand this lesson properly, he made me draw a genealogical tree of violence, with violence as the grandparent and physical violence and passive violence as the two branches. Every day before I went to bed, I had to analyze and examine everything I had experienced during the day. All of it had to be analyzed and put in its appropriate place on that tree. If it was the kind of violence where physical force is used against people—fighting and punching and pinching and killing and wars and all these things—these are physical manifestations of violence, so it would go under physical violence. But if it was the kind of violence where no force is used, and yet we hurt people, directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously—sometimes people may be in another country, and yet our actions in this country hurt people in that country—all that would go under passive violence. When I began to do this exercise every day, I was able to fill up a whole wall in my room with acts of passive violence. That’s when I became aware of how much passive violence I was committing. It was only when I became aware of it that I could do something about it to change it. If we don’t become aware of it, then we will live in denial, and we’ll just go on committing passive violence all the time and adding to the conflict. At that stage, my grandfather told me the connection between the two. He said, "We commit passive violence all the time, every day, consciously and unconsciously, and that generates anger in the victim, and the victim then seeks justice through violence." So it is passive violence that fuels the fire of physical violence. Logically, if we want to put out the fire of physical violence, we have to cut off the fuel supply. And since the fuel supply comes from each one of us, we have to become the change that we wish to see. We have to understand how we are contributing to violence and what we need to do to change ourselves before we can change the world. It is very important that we all do this kind of introspection of our attitudes and our behavior in relationships with each other, so that we can create the kind of peace that we all want. Peace has to be built brick by brick. It won’t happen overnight. It cannot happen because we wish it to happen. It will happen only when we make the sacrifice and we build peace brick by brick, which means we have to create a society where harmony, respect, understanding, and love prevail between all people, where we don’t look at people by their nationalities, or by their religion, or by their size, or by their color, but we look at people as human beings. And that requires changing the attitude, or culture, of violence that my grandfather talked about. He was very disturbed by the culture of violence that dominates us today. It has seeped so deeply into us that it dominates every aspect of our life. Our language has become violent. Our attitudes have become violent. Our relationships have become violent. Our religion has become violent. We are killing in the name of God, and that is wrong. That’s what disturbed my grandfather tremendously. He said the only salvation for humanity is to get rid of that culture of violence and replace it with a culture of nonviolence, so that we can be dominated by good things, by love, respect, understanding for each other, and create that kind of compassionate society where harmony would prevail, and where we won’t have any friction between people. So it is our duty today to take that pledge, that all of us are first of all going to change ourselves by understanding our weaknesses and making those weaknesses strengths. And then we are going to help the rest of society change also, through our actions and through our love, respect, and understanding. I want to commend—I don’t know a lot about what Swāmījī has done, but what I saw in the film yesterday and what little I’ve been able to learn in the few days I’ve spent with Swāmījī—I’d like to commend him for the wonderful work he has done so far, and for setting the ball rolling in creating that kind of peace and harmony. I hope that he succeeds tremendously and is able to influence more people around the world, so that this message of love, peace, and understanding can spread all over the world, and we can then create the peace and harmony that we want in the world today. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity.